Cry Me a River
by TheGentleOne
Summary: Harry sends Draco to Azkaban for 7 years, for reasons he can't say. WIP
1. Chapter 1

"After much consideration and discussions, the Council have decreed that Draco Malfoy is guilty of all charges, and is to be imprisoned in Azkaban for 7 years."

Azkaban. For 7 years. Draco stared at the shackles circling his ankles, feeling nothing. He was completely drained, physically and emotionally. All he could think of were his parents; how Lucius would laugh in ill-concealed delight at the knowledge that his betrayer of a son would be placed in a cell at the same place he would be residing at, and how his mother would just raise an eyebrow at the news before fleeing Britain with more than half of what was in the Malfoy vaults in her pockets. Draco supposed he should feel some…panic or perhaps desperation at the thought of spending the next 7 years in Azkaban but he just couldn't drum up the energy to. His thoughts veered towards a certain boy with messy black hair and he bit down on his lips hard-hard enough to draw some blood-to remind himself what was associated with _that _boy. It was because of him that he was here, here in this stupid court room with everybody staring at him-some with pity, some with delight and some with no emotions. Anger was an easier emotion to focus on than despair because despair would just tear you apart, peer into the darkest depths of your heart and rip apart all the good in you. So Draco focused on anger. It was all that git's fault. He had broken a promise to Draco, breaking the latter's heart in process and- Draco flinched. He did not want to be reminded of his past. Azkaban was his cold, unfeeling future and he welcomed it. It was the peace he never had.

HPDM

Harry waited outside the grey, looming gates with his hands stuffed in his jeans back pocket. He wanted to storm into the dark castle but he resisted. His impatience would not get him anywhere. A hand fell onto his left shoulder in comfort and he turned, flashing a grateful smile for his best friend, Ronald Weasley. The tall, broad-shouldered ginger smiled back. Ron had grown up a great deal over the past few years, for the better. He wasn't as thick-headed and prejudiced as before. The youngest male of the Weasley family had supported Harry's actions throughout the bleakest 7 years of the latter's life and had stood strong against all odds with the raven haired and Hermione Granger. Even when the world seemed to turn against the three of them, they had stuck together and prevailed against all their enemies. Hermione gripped Harry's arm and nodded towards the gate.

Two wizards were walking towards the gate with a thin, hunched figure between them. Harry's heart leapt to his throat. Was that… The mighty gates unlocked with a _woosh _and the small man paused, uncertain. One of the two wizards accompanying him nudged him forward roughly and Harry nearly took a step forward, mouth open in indignation, only to be stopped by Hermione's quick reflexes. She held him back with an arm across his chest and she shook her head, eyes fixed on the blonde before them.

He took a hesitant step forward, body tensed, head down. Harry's heart ached at the sight. He wanted to see the old Draco Malfoy again, the proud, arrogant man who would die first than to bow his head in front of people. He took another step, and unable to hold himself back any longer, Harry rushed forward with a sob and his heart in his mouth, arms outstretched. The huddled man looked up, saw Harry barreling towards him and stumbled with a broken cry, his arms raised to protect his face. Harry stopped, his eyes filling with tears.

Hermione and Ron rushed past him and knelt beside the shivering blonde. "Draco. Draco. Can you hear me, Draco?" Hermione asked gently, hands on her lap. Draco nodded meekly. "Good. I'm Hermione Granger. Do you remember me?" Another nod. "I'm not going to hurt you, okay? I'm going to bring you to a safe place, a place where no one will hurt you. This is Ronald Weasley. He's a friend of mine, so he's not going to hurt you too, okay?" Draco nodded once more. "Can you stand, Draco? We need you to follow us."

Draco rose unsteadily to his feet, accepting Hermione's and Ron's supporting arms without a comment.

"Thank you, Hermione, Ron," He whispered, his voice hoarse and small, as if he had not used it. And he probably didn't, Harry reflected, accepting the wave of guilt that rose within him at the thought. What was one more rush of guilt when he had already felt a million rushes of it?

He stood uselessly at the side, watching his two best friends help Draco walk towards the small boat waiting for them at the shore. He wanted to take Draco into his arms, to envelope him in a hug and never let go, but knowing Draco, he would never let Harry touch him, not after what he did. Or rather, what he did not do.

And so he stood, watching helplessly as Draco's knees buckled too many times and nearly bringing all three of them to their knees. He wanted to die, when Draco walked past him without glancing at him, or even acknowledging him.

_I deserve this._

HPDM

_It was cold, unbearably so. Draco couldn't see anything in the darkness, and so he huddled into himself. This was his…10th day in Azkaban? He wasn't sure. He couldn't see the sun or the moon from his cell, and it was forever drenched in darkness, kept afar from civilization. He rocked himself, trying to remember the lullaby his mother used to sang to him at night, when he was a baby, before he grew up and before everything went wrong. He wanted to go back to those days, when he didn't need to worry at all, when his parents used to smile at him and play with him. He wanted to go back to prevent The Dark Lord's return so that his parents would forever love him and prevent his father from devoting all his time to the stupid snake of a man, and stop his mother's withdrawal into herself. He wanted to go back to spend more time with Harry, to tell him how much Draco loved him, to show him, and to keep the Gryffindor in love with him._

_Draco let out a sob, and he pressed the back of his hand to his mouth in surprise. He rarely cried. The last time he did was when he was five, when his father had began preparing for the Dark Lord's return. _

_He scrubbed his hands over his face as the tears just kept pouring out, desperate to stop the torrent of tears. _Malfoys don't cry, Malfoys don't cry, _he chanted to himself. _Malfoys don't cry, Malfoys don't cry, Malfoys don't cry, Malfoys don't cry…

HPDM

Draco woke up with a start. His cheeks were damp, and salty. He was surrounded with familiar darkness, and he relaxed for a while, taking comfort in the fact that he was safe in Azkaban-

Azkaban didn't give their prisoners a soft, comfortable bed to sleep on.

Draco debated between getting up to investigate and staying in bed. The bed _was _comfortable, after all-

_Ouch._

A sharp twinge ran up Draco's spinal cord and he shifted in response, only to have more twinges of pain racing up his spine. Biting his lip, he slid to the edge and stood unsteadily. The dark room spun in circles. He slowly sank to his knees, and drew his knees to his chin, settling into the position he was used to for the past 7 years. The twinges of pain stopped and he breathed a sigh of relief. It was obvious that he was out of Azkaban, which meant his sentence was over, and he was free.

Draco paused. He was free. Free. What did that mean? The thought of being in a crowd terrified him, he didn't want to touch or be touched willingly by another person; if he walked down Diagon Alley, everybody was going to spit on him or throw hexes and curses at him; the moment a person saw his Dark Mark, they were going to freak out and probably kill him in the process. He was much better in Azkaban.

The door was thrown open, flooding the room with bright, intense light that hurt his eyes.

Oh yes, he was much better in Azkaban.

HPDM

"What do you mean by 'he might not want anybody touching him and that includes me'?" Harry whispered as loud as he could, afraid to wake up Draco who was sleeping upstairs. They were gathered at Grimmauld Place, discussing their next move.

"Mate, did you see the way he treated you on the ride back, before he passed out? He _ignored _you, which means he doesn't want to have anything to do with you," Ron grunted, taking a huge bite out of his sandwich.

"Very tactful, Ron." Hermione chided gently before setting a mug of steaming coffee in front Harry.

"You have to understand, Harry, that Draco _has _been in Azkaban for 7 years, with no human contact at all. He would be feeling very skittish around people, especially with crowds. He only accepted Ron and my help just now because he wasn't really himself, and he needed help. Plus, it doesn't hurt that Ron is right too," at that, Ron beamed at Harry, causing Harry to raise his mug as a mock threat. "He ignored you the whole way, Harry, which means that he doesn't want to be near you, like what Ron said. So you just can't touch Draco. In any way. Not even a slight brush. Are you listening to me, Harry?"

Harry gave a start, breaking away from his intense eye game with Ron. "Wha..?" Hermione huffed in exasperation and strode from the room, muttering about Peter Pan or something under her breath. Harry shared a bemused look with Ron.

"Girls," they sighed in unison. "Which," Harry continued, raising his mug in a mockery of a toast, "is why I'm gay."

"I thought you were Malfoy-sexual, not gay."

Harry blinked.

"Harry. You do know that you did not even _glance _at a bloke in a…romantic way before you fixed your eyes on Malfoy, right? I mean it even came as a surprise to us! Honestly, we thought you were asexual. You didn't even spare a look for the girls nor the boys, but when Malfoy walks past, your eyes bug out and your tongue hangs out of your mouth and you start drooling.."

"Okay, okay!" Harry laughed, raising his hands. "I admit, I _am _Draco-sexual. I love him, Ron. How am I ever going to explain to him why I did what I did? When he won't even _look _at me for Merlin's sake."

"Tie him up, gag him, and force him to listen to you," Ron said. He grimaced a second later. "Yuck. That totally created a mental picture I so do not want to have." Harry threw his head back and laughed. Merlin, he loved having Ron as his best friend and he was grateful for the fact that he had come to terms with the fact that he was in love with Draco.

The front door slammed open, and Harry only had a moment to exchange alarmed glances with Ron before a feminine redhead appeared in the kitchen doorway.

"Is it true?" She panted, her fingers gripping the door frame.

"Is what true?" Harry acted dumb.

Ginny barely spared him a glance before she ran up the stairs leading to the bedrooms.

"Ginny! Wait!" The two men yelled.

They chased after her as she threw doors open. "Ginny, please. He needs rest!" Harry pleaded desperately.

"Oh. All of a sudden you're so caring. You were never this concerned about my health when you were with me, Harry! I can't believe that you're actually letting him stay here with you. And I can't believe that you're letting Harry do this, Ron! I thought you knew better! Have you forgotten how he treated us in the past? He mocked us, Ron. He called us names. He _killed _Dumbledore."

"All of us know that that isn't true, Ginny. Snape was the one who killed Dumbledore. And he did it because Dumbledore asked him to. Don't try to twist the facts. It's time for you to let go of the past." Hermione said, stepping in front of Ginny, blocking the way to Draco's bedroom.

Ginny's face twisted. "I won't be manipulated by you or anyone else. You think that everything is fine, now that everyone else's have let go? You're wrong. There are things happening, Hermione, things beyond your imagination. And you know what's the best part? _You're helpless to stop it._"

The Golden Trio stared at her, shocked. She immediately took advantage of their lack of action and ran to the door Hermione was guarding and flung the door open.

"Ginny!" All three of them yelled, running towards her. But it was too late. Light from the hallway spilled into the perviously dark room to illuminate a huddled figure beside the king-sized bed. He was facing the wall, his back to them, and his shivering was obvious from afar.

"Malfoy," Ginny hissed, and the man in question shuddered, back still facing them and he huddled more into himself, if that was possible. A low whine escaped from his throat and the three best friends snapped into action. Hermione rushed to Draco's side, speaking to him in low tones, careful to not touch him in any way or to kneel too close to him. Harry and Ron stood in front of the blonde and the brunette, arms folded across their chests, a hard gleam in their eyes.

"Fine," Ginny snarled. "I just want _Draco _to know this. _Nobody _is going to accept him in our community even though he's been released from Azkaban. In fact, the only way we will ever accept him is if he _fucking dies."_

Harry lunged forward, a second too late as Ginny danced nimbly out of his reach and sped down the hallway, her laughter ringing in the tense silence that followed.

A choked sob filled the air and spurred all three ex-Gryffindors into action. Hermione started murmuring soothingly to Draco once again, and Harry nearly placed his hands on Draco's quivering back in comfort before Ron halted him with a shake of his head.

Harry let his useless hands fall to his sides, eyes fixed on the shaking blonde. He clenched his jaw in determination.

"Draco. Listen to me. You shouldn't listen to a single word Ginny says. You're better than her, Draco, trust me." He whispered hoarsely.

A pause.

"I trusted you, and look at what happened." Was the reply.

Harry felt as though he had been sucker punched. Draco drew more into himself, resting his head on top of his knees, still not looking at Harry. The latter wanted to cry, but he knew that it wouldn't help at all. Draco being in Azkaban for seven years _was _his fault after all, no matter how noble his intentions were.

"I-I'll be in my room if you need me," Harry murmured before rushing out, his eyes filling with hot tears and guilt threatened to choke and drown him.

_I trusted you, and look at what happened. I trusted you. I trusted you. I trusted you. I trusted you. I trusted you. _

Harry ran into his room, ready to slam the door close but remembering Draco being two doors down, closed it gently instead and collapsed onto his bed.

"Hey mate, you alright?" The door creaked open slowly and Ron peeked in.

Harry sat up and gestured for Ron to enter. "No, I am _not _alright. I feel like dying, quite frankly. Draco _hates _me. And I love him, Ron. Merlin, you know what? I wanted to slam the door when I came in, but I didn't because I was thinking of how Draco would be startled by the sound." He laughed at himself, the sound harsh in the quiet room.

"I shouldn't have let him to go Azkaban, Ron. Look at what it did to him. I _destroyed _him, Ron. He can't stand to be in the same room as me, he can't withstand body contact, he won't look at me for a fucking _second_!" Harry scrubbed his hands over his face, suddenly tired.

"Harry, maybe you should tell him the truth. Tell him why you didn't testify for him when he was on trial. Maybe-"

"NO! The truth will only kill him, Ron. No matter how evil or how bad Narcissa Malfoy was, he is still Draco's mother. And although Draco claims to hate Narcissa, he still cares for her, for his mother. Azkaban was the place where her wrongdoings wouldn't reach Draco. I just- Did I make a wrong decision to send him there, Ron?"

Ron opened his mouth to reply, but at that moment Hermione pushed the door open.

"Draco's sleeping again. I managed to get him to calm down. He's not as bad as we thought he was, Harry. He's strong. He allowed me to touch me, and he even told me that the bed is uncomfortable to him."

"Uncomfortable?" Ron yelped. "What do you mean by _uncomfortable_? Harry spent like thousands of galleons for it! It's the best bed there ever is!"

"Think Ron, think. He has been in a cell with no bed. Of course he got used to sitting on the floor to sleep. Lying down horizontally is uncomfortable for him."

Harry looked away as guilt swamped him once more. He had tried to insist for the guards to place a bed in Draco's cell but they had refused to do so, saying that it was against the rules. He also tried to bring the matter up to the Minister but Kingsley couldn't do anything too, as the rule was archaic and would need all of Wizengamot's voting. A unanimous voting was close to impossible to get, even with all of Britain's support behind them. Harry knew that, because he had tried regardless of all the warnings and he had failed. Miserably. So he had tried to do the next best thing. By taking care of Draco surreptitiously through the guards at Azkaban. Again, he failed. They refused to accept bribes and did not even _waver _at the thought of having a lifetime supply of Harry Potter autographs and being The Man Who Didn't Die Again's best friend. Up until Hermione had informed him, he wasn't even aware of the fact that the guards barely communicated with the prisoners.

"So what now?" Harry asked. Hermione sighed gustily. "We think of mainly two-no, three things. One, how to get Draco to start talking to Harry again. Two, how to slowly assimilate Draco back into the Wizarding World and three, what the hell is Ginny up to." The three of them sobered at the thought of Ginny. Whilst everybody had moved on, it seemed like she was the only one who hadn't, and refused to. After the war, Ginny was part of a group that aimed to kill all Death Eaters and their sympathizers. They used cruel and vicious means to capture and kill the Death Eaters. What was even more terrifying was that most of the public didn't mind the use of Dark magic against the Death Eaters. In fact, they had _encouraged _it. When the members of the group were rounded up, Molly and Arthur Weasley were heartbroken to find out that their youngest was part of the group that helped to destroy even more lives and yet, had begged for Harry to ask the Wizengamot for a lighter sentence. So Ginny was placed under house arrest for 3 years, and it had only been half a year since her sentence was served.

"Do you think the group is back?" Ron voiced their inner fears, face pale. "I'm not sure, but it seems as though Ginny knows something about them, and Harry, you _have _to let Draco fight his own battles. No more shielding him." Hermione snapped.

Harry stared at her, his mouth opened. Sure, he was thinking of maybe shipping Draco off to the Bahamas or something, but… "It's for his own good, Hermione," he tried.

"Yeah, and look at him now. You said that sending him to Azkaban was for his own good 7 years ago, and I went along with that because the danger was very real but I've learnt my lesson, Harry. Look at him now. He can barely string a sentence together! Tell him the truth."

Harry looked to Ron for support but the redhead was avoiding his gaze. He knew that sending Draco away again was a bad idea, but Harry couldn't help wanting to protect the blonde in any and every way he could. Draco didn't know of his parents love while going through Hogwarts and every accomplishment he had was only attained to let his parents see that he was _valuable, _that he was worth their time, and Harry's heart ached very badly for him. When Draco finally made a decision for himself and not for his parents, they had disowned him. As much as Harry wanted Draco to make a decision based on what he wanted and not on whether it would make his parents sit up and take notice of their son, he didn't want Draco to be disowned, to not have a family. And to make it worse, Harry was the reason why Draco was disowned. So he had bounced between being thrilled that the first decision _Draco _made was to date him in public and being guilty because Draco no longer had a family. In the end, he settled on somewhere in between and had resolved to love and take care of Draco with everything he had. Apparently, his 'love and taking care of Draco' included sending the mentioned man to Azkaban, the safest place in Britain, for 7 long years. 7 very long years.

"Okay," he conceded.

"You have to understand that- What did you say?"

"I said okay," Harry repeated, emerald eyes flashing with determination. "I trust you, Hermione. If you say that telling him the truth is the best thing for him, then I'll tell him the whole truth."

"By tomorrow."

There was a pregnant pause.

"By tomorrow," Harry sighed.

End Chapter

A/N: WHOOT! I smile whenever I think of this story. :) So excited for it. Please excuse any inaccuracies leave reviews behind cos the unicorn in my bedroom loves them. Thanks! BTW, how do you reply reviews? I'm a noob -.-


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

_Draco was five. It was his birthday today, and he was excited. Using Uncle Sev's advice, he had dropped hints to his parents about a kitten he wanted for the past week. He was _sure _that his parents had caught the hint because they kept talking about a small spotted kitten named Dragon and he had found a small collar with a name tag attached onto it in the garden just the other day. He had asked Uncle Sev about the collar and was delighted when his uncle had solemnly informed him that the collar was for kittens only. _

_The collar clutched in his hands, Draco ran out of the room, his heart pounding. He was about to enter the corridor when he heard voices. Maybe it was his parents trying to hide the kitty! Pressing a hand to his mouth to prevent any noise from escaping, Draco crept across the corridor, making sure to stand on his tippy toes because if you stood on your tippy toes, you would be as quiet as a mouse. He swallowed multiple giggles and peered around the door to his Father's study. What he saw made his heart stop. _

_A kitten sat in the middle of the room, and Draco combed his eyes over the kitten. It had spots! Draco gripped the collar with excitement and tried his very best to not start jumping for joy. A kitten! His very own kitten!_

_"Is it true? Is the Dark Lord really coming back, Lucius?" His mother asked, worry lining her voice. The five year old looked up in concern. He didn't like it when his mother spoke like that. He frowned._

_"Yes, Narcissa. We've found a way to bring him back." A man replied eagerly. Draco's nose wrinkled. He knew that man. It was one of his Father's friends, and he smelled bad. He always liked to pinch Draco's cheeks and ruffle his neat hair and leer at him in a way that Draco absolutely hated. _

_The kitten sitting in the middle of the room stretched languidly. Draco could hardly contain his excitement. He jumped into the room and headed straight for his kitty. "Dragon! Come to daddy, kitty!" Draco reached out for the kitten, only to have his hand smacked away._

_"Draco! What the hell are you doing in here?" Lucius roared. Draco whimpered, staring up at his father, terrified. Never before had he seen such an expression on his Father's face. It was distorted by pure fury. _

_"I… I just wanted to get Dragon…" Big, fat tears rolled down his cheeks. _

_"How many times must I tell you to not come into my study without permission?" Without waiting for a reply, Lucius scooped up the spotted kitten, ignoring Draco's startled cry._

_"Your insolence mustn't go on. You'll be a shame to the Malfoy name and to the Dark Lord if I allow you to continue being a brat. You will have to learn that every action has its consequence, Draco. Avada Kedavra."_

_Instinctively, Draco knew that the words his Father uttered was bad. Emerald green light shot out of his Father's wand and hit the kitten he had flung onto the carpeted floor before him. Draco heard a scream echoing in the suddenly big room, ringing in his head and ears, going on and on. It was only later when he realized that _he _was the one screaming. _

_Every action has its consequences._

HPDM

Harry stood outside of Draco's door, shuffling his feet. He glanced at the tray he held. In the very likely event of Draco tossing him out before Harry could even open his mouth, the latter was going to use the tray of simple food as a shield. Right. Taking a deep breath, he reached for the doorknob.

The moment he touched the doorknob, he immediately withdrew his hand. Resolving to come back later, he whirled on his feet. He yelped in surprise. Hermione stood at the end of the corridor, blocking the staircase entrance. Her hands were folded across her chest and there was a grim expression on her face. Harry gulped. Draco, or Hermione…

He turned back to Draco's bedroom door. Draco it is. He knocked four times on the door and gently eased the door open. "Draco? It's me, Harry. I've brought breakfast for you."

The room was drenched in darkness with the curtains drawn. Harry stood at the doorway, blinking furiously. After what seemed like an eternity, his eyes finally adjusted. He could make out Draco's thin form at the foot of the bed, knees drawn to his chin. Harry padded softly across the carpeted floor and set down the tray of food on the bedside table.

"Draco. Can-can I sit next to you?" He asked softly. The blonde gave no response, eyes blinking ever so softly. Swallowing, Harry scrubbed his damp hands across his jeans and he sat on the edge of the bed, making sure that although his body was angled towards his other half, he wasn't near enough him to touch.

"If it's alright with you, I would like to tell you why I didn't defend you 7 years ago."

The blonde gave a visible start. He hadn't expect Harry to say that. He blinked slowly, the only sign of him acknowledging Harry's words.

"After the war, there was a group stirring up trouble. They called themselves the Avengers. It was mainly made up of ex-Death Eaters and their families. They cast a curse, a curse to hunt down and kill all the people who betrayed Voldemort. People like you," he added in a hushed whisper. "The Ministry tried to cover up the deaths and tried to find a counter curse. They finally figured out that the only safe place from the curse was Azkaban, so the ex-spies were moved to Azkaban. Nobody knew about it, of course, except for the Ministry, Hermione, Ron and I."

"The nights you spent at the Ministry, having meetings with the Minister." Draco murmured. Harry nodded, happy that Draco was talking to him. Even when it was under undesirable circumstances. "I was sworn to secrecy; we all were, so I couldn't tell you anything about it.

"Then to make things worse, the Avengers cast another curse. A Dark curse. It was to instill dark thoughts into everyone's mind. Technically, it shouldn't have worked but the leftover magic from Voldemort… It increased the potency of the curse. Almost everyone was affected by the curse. Neighbors turned against each other, people betrayed their own families and they were all _ecstatic _when someone died. It was terrible. Those unaffected by the curse soon grew paranoid and the Ministry was forced to imprison almost everybody. _Nobody _was safe from the curse."

"Except for those in Azkaban. That's why you didn't say anything when they called to stand trial, right? You wanted me to enter Azkaban. To protect me." Draco turned red eyes to Harry.

"Everybody wanted your blood, Draco! They were hungry for it! They wanted to torture you, to kick and spit on you. The Avengers wanted you for your betrayal while the rest of the population wanted you just _because._ Everybody was crazy for blood. A mother tortured and killed her own baby because she thought that the baby was dark. The baby was just three months old, Draco. You were the only ex-spy not safely locked away in Azkaban, where the curse couldn't touch you!"

Draco was still silent, staring emptily at his hands. Harry began to babble.

"It's got to do with some ancient wards. They said that seeing that Azkaban is the oldest building in the Wizarding World, the magic used to protect the building was strong and powerful. That's why I told Kingsley to summon you to stand before the Wizengamot and why I didn't testify for you. It was to protect you, Draco. I don't want you to die; I-"

"I want to some time to think. Please leave." Draco said quietly, lips barely moving.

"I-okay. I'll be back later, for the tray. Please eat, alright?" Draco stayed silent. Deciding to take Draco's silence as consent, he nodded and exhaled shakily before heading for the door. He paused and turned to look at Draco. "I really am sorry for what I did, Draco. It was wrong of me, and I realized that now. I missed you." Draco barely moved his head. Nodding, Harry exited the room.

"Well? How did it go?" Hermione hissed from the staircase. Ignoring her, Harry barreled past her and jumped down the stairs.

"Terrible." Harry said flatly, slumping onto a kitchen chair. "He kicked me out of his bedroom."

"Well, that's actually a good thing! Shows that he is communicating with you. At least he didn't ignore you." Hermione consoled, pulling out the teapot and the jar of tea bags.

Harry perked up. "Yeah, yeah I guess you can see it that way." He quickly sobered though. "I just… I just want him to be happy, Hermione. He means the world to me. If he ends up being hurt in the end, I'll never forgive myself."

Silence enveloped the kitchen as the two best friends brooded.

"Woah. Did someone die?" Ron joked, entering the somber kitchen.

"Haha. Very funny, Ronald. Nobody died. Harry just told Draco the reason why he didn't testify for him at his trial."

"No way! You really went through with it, mate?" Ron paused in his perusing of the cupboards for food to stare at Harry.

"Why can't you have some faith in me, Ron?" Harry whined, burying his head in his shoulders.

"Here, Ron, let me do it. You'll just mess everything up." Hermione snatched the bread loaf from Ron's hands. "It's not that Ron doesn't have faith in you, Harry… It's just that you have a tendency to run and hide from the problem. _I _have faith in you!" Hermione said brightly, slapping a slice of turkey ham onto the bread.

"Is that why you guarded the staircase just now?" Harry asked dryly.

Hermione dropped the plate of ham sandwich in front of Ron and huffed. "I was guarding the staircase just now because… Oh, alright. I admit defeat." She slumped onto a kitchen chair again.

Harry chuckled and pulled the loaf of bread towards himself once again.

"So, Ron. Did you find anything?" Hermione asked.

"I will tell you if Harry helps me make another sandwich." Ron smiled. Harry simply began to cut another slice of bread from the thick loaf.

"Right. So I popped by Percy's to dig around. Interesting thing. He wasn't in, but Daniel was. You remember him, right? The weird guy with the huge glasses? Hits on Harry like there's no tomorrow?"

"Yes, yes. We know who Daniel is, Ron. Please. Carry on."

"Right. Anyway, I asked Daniel to check if the Rebels have shown any signs of activity. Funny thing is, he couldn't find anything to do with the Rebels. And when I asked him about them, he panicked slightly. You know, he gave a start, kept glancing around… Then the moment I mentioned looking for Percy's file on the Rebels, he just…shut down on me. Got all frosty on me and it took him 2 bloody hours to find the darned file on the Rebels. And he barely let me take a look at it too! Thank Merlin for Percy, though.

He came back after that wasted 2 hours and…here's the file." Ron waved his wand and a thick file thumped onto the table.

Nobody moved towards the file lying innocently on the table. The prospects of the Rebels starting again were too agonizing to think about.

"Well," Hermione swallowed, hands wiping nervously on her dark blue jeans, "here goes nothing."

She opened the file and papers spilled out, then formed themselves into a neat pile. She picked up the first piece of paper and gestured for the eating men to do the same.

"Okay. Mine is based on what happened in the past. Just put these kind of papers here, alright? In case we need to review them again." Hermione gently placed the paper onto a far corner of the kitchen table and picked up another piece.

"Holy fuck." Two heads snapped up sharply. "What did you find, Ron?" Hermione asked.

"I… Ginny was right. Things _are _happening. It says here that Reynolds was released. Last month. Nobody has been keeping an eye on him, though. So there's not much here, except…" Ron trailed off.

"Except he has been meeting with Ginny since he entered Azkaban."

There was barely a moment for the once-Golden-Trio to absorb the implications of that sentence before the kitchen door slammed open. Remembering the last time that had happened and exactly who was behind aforementioned door, Harry tensed, right hand creeping down to his wand on the table. He needn't have bothered, because a very irate, very thin and so fucking _beautiful _blonde strode in, his head held high in a similar fashion to how it was once held. Harry's heart clenched painfully in his chest at the sight.

"Potter." Draco spat out, eyes flashing, although it was slightly squinted against the glare of the kitchen lights. Harry automatically dimmed it without a thought and action. Draco shivered slightly at the feel of Harry's magic in the air before he composed himself once again.

"Potter. I don't need your fucking protection. I can take care of myself."

Harry opened his mouth to protest, images of Draco lying in a pool of blood, Draco sitting so still and silent on the floor, Draco's widened eyes as a knife protruded from his chest, Draco smiling a faint smile even as a flash of Avada Kedava green engulfed him, flickered in his mind's eyes, only to stop when Draco slammed his hand down on the table.

It barely made a sound as his hand connected with the wood but Harry held his tongue, as did his two best friend, biting his lip as Draco winced.

"Let's get this clear, alright, Potter? I. Don't. Need. You. To. Be. A. Fucking. Hero. Around. Me." Draco bit off. "_I _was the one who decided to go against my parents. _I _was the one who decided to date you in public. _I _was the one who decided to come out to the whole school. It was _me. _Not you. So you can get off of your very high horse and stop trying to be a fucking hero to me because I _hate _it when you do that!"

"So what are you trying to say? That you-"

"I'm trying to say that I'm so fucking sick of you taking care of me like…like I'm an invalid!"

There was no sound in the room, safe for Draco panting.

"We'll… we'll just be upstairs…if you need us." Hermione ushered Ron out of the kitchen, shooting worried glances at the two males left.

"I don't- I don't want to feel this way anymore, Harry," Draco whispered.

"Feel what?"

"Like you've been giving and giving to me, but I haven't- I haven't given _you_ anything. I mean, you've supported me in everything that I have done; you stood by me when my parents disowned me. And I haven't been giving anything back to you."

"That's not true. You gave me things too. You gave me love, and the knowledge of how it feels to really fall in love with someone, to the point where I would be willing to die for that person. You also taught me that I'm not alone in this world, that I wouldn't die alone. You gave me _yourself_, Draco. It's all I've asked for."

"Do you still love me?"

"Merlin, Draco, yes. I love you to the point of madness."

Draco looked down, worrying his bottom lip with his teeth. "Iloveyoutoo," he mumbled.

"What did you say, baby? I couldn't hear it."

Draco raised his head. "I said that I love you too."

There was a short pause and then…

Harry flung himself at Draco, and hugged him tightly. Draco immediately stiffened, something Harry noticed right away. He let go as if he was burnt.

"Oh Merlin, Draco. I'm so sorry. I didn't think. Are you okay?"

Draco bit his bottom lip again, hugging himself tightly. He nodded. "Yeah, yeah I'm okay. Just…just don't hug me suddenly. I might go mad." He tried to smile. "Can you…hug me again? Just go slowly. Please."

Harry smiled tenderly. "Of course."

Moving very slowly, Harry stepped forward once again and opened his arms. He wrapped them around Draco lightly, careful to have the latter's face tipped upwards to meet his eyes.

"Is this alright?" He whispered, feeling a need to do so, as though the moment there and then was very fragile. "Yeah, yeah it is." Draco smiled at him, and Harry shivered, his heart feeling considerably lighter.

"I'm sorry, Draco. I don't know how you can love me after I put you into Azkaban. You have every right to hate me."

Draco pulled away from the embrace gently and gazed at Harry.

"Since you brought that up… I've some bones to pick with you. I haven't forgiven you for putting me in Azkaban, but I want to, and I know with time I will forgive you. But it will take years, Harry. It wasn't…it was _hell _at Azkaban. I wanted to die every single day but then…but then I thought of you and no matter how much I wanted to hate you, I couldn't. I couldn't leave you without getting a chance to yell at you too. Harry, you have to learn how to stop over protecting me. I can take care of myself. I understand where you're coming from. I know you feel guilty for not testifying for me at my trial. You want to protect me because you didn't have a chance to protect the people you love. Sirius, Remus, your parents. You have to trust me, Harry. I can protect myself. Don't get me wrong, though. I like it when you're protective but you've gone over the line here."

"…. You like it when I'm protective?" Harry grinned.

Draco gasped in mock dismay and slapped his arm lightly. "Be serious!"

Harry immediately sobered. "I know what you're talking about, Draco. I'm truly sorry. I'm going to make it up to you, I _swear._"

"It's going to take years, Harry."

Harry tried to smile. "I know. I'm prepared."

Draco stared at him for a while more before a smile took over his face. "Okay." He moved back into Harry's embrace.

_I love you_

HPDM

Much later, the four of them gathered in the living room. Each of them held a plate with a thick slice of chocolate cake on it.

"You sure this is Molly's cake, Hermione?" Harry sniffed at it suspiciously. The last time Hermione had handed them 'Molly's cake', it had turned out to be the former's. She had lied to them about Molly baking the cake for them that day and seeing that Molly did bake for them often enough, the two men had believed her.

"I don't want to suffer from another stomachache, 'Mione." Ron whined, poking at it with his fork.

Hermione huffed. "I'm not lying this time, alright? It _is _from Molly this time. I swear. I even have her note!" Laughing, the rest dug in and there was silence in the room, saved for the scraping of plates with forks.

Harry watched Draco dig in eagerly, relishing the velvety taste of the chocolate on his tongue. He had to swallow repeatedly at the sight of Draco's tongue flicking out ever so often to clean his lips from any remaining chocolate.

Hermione was watching Draco too, although for entirely different reasons. Draco was stuffing the chocolate cake down his throat, and although she loathed to stop him from enjoying the food he missed over the last 7 years, she knew that too much chocolate was bad for Draco. Especially since his stomach wasn't used to the rich quality of chocolate.

"Draco," she warned softly. He had already eaten one quarter of the cake and was looking a little ill. Glancing at her, he nodded and pushed the rest of his cake to Ron, who accepted it with no fuss at all.

"You guys have been hiding something from me," Draco stated. Three pairs of widened eyes looked at him. He nodded. "I know Harry and he has been hiding something from me. All three of you, in fact. I want to know what it is. I can handle it."

Ron placed his plates on the coffee table and stared at Draco.

"You won't like it," he said quietly.

"Ron!" Harry and Hermione stage whispered.

"What? He said he can handle it! Besides, I thought you promised to not protect him so much anymore, Harry."

"It's a habit, okay? Habits are very hard to break. And why were you eavesdropping?"

"I wasn't eavesdropping! I just happened to pass by and stop changing the subject! Draco knows that we're hiding something from him so there's no use in us keeping it a secret anymore. He will find out sooner or later, anyway."

"What is it?" Draco said softly.

Harry swallowed. "I… Draco. Remember the Avengers I told you about?" He nodded slowly, curiosity in his eyes. "The leader of the group…the leader of the group is…"

Understanding flashed in Draco's eyes, followed by horror, and then acceptance.

"My mother," finished Draco.

The four of them sat there for a while, silent, each lost in their own thoughts.

"Tell me in full detail. I want to know everything." Draco demanded, his grey eyes hard and glinting with determination.

"Your mother set up the Avengers right after your father was sent to Azkaban. Nobody but her closest friends and people involved in the setting up knew what was going on, and what was going to happen. She was brilliant and she completely took us by surprise. Harry told you about the curse, right? The one that was designed to kill everybody who had betrayed the Dark Lord. The group cast the curse, and it took immediate effect. It went after people who betrayed Voldemort from the time they started serving him. Then it went after the people whose parents are Death Eaters or are supporters of Voldemort and yet chose to side with us, the Light side. We couldn't stop the curse because it was designed by your mother and nobody knew how and when it was casted. Then we found out that Azkaban was the only place safe from the curse due to its ancient wards. That's when Harry had the stupid, crazy idea to send you to Azkaban in a bid to protect you from the curse. We needed the sentence to be as heavy as possible because we were running out of time. Then the Avengers cast another curse. A curse that instilled dark thoughts into almost everybody. It's actually a very corny curse because only people who were truly in love was unaffected by it. Those who were affected went insane. Families turned against each other, and killed each other. Best friends stabbed each other in the back. Everybody was suspicious of anybody and everybody. Nobody dared to go out at all. Shops closed down, radios were shut down and the streets were basically deserted. And yet, the death rate during those times were very high. We had to go from door to door, trying to stop them from becoming dark and kill others. Again, Azkaban was the only safe place. Hogwarts wasn't even safe because of the damage done to its wards during the war. It was horrible. Children even killed each other without remorse. It took us 4 years to put an end to the madness." Hermione explained.

Draco was very still, head bowed. "Is my mother still alive?"

Hermione and Ron glanced at Harry. "No, Draco. She killed herself when we cast the counter curse. I'm sorry." Harry said hoarsely, guilt rising in his throat.

Draco's head whipped up. "I know what you're thinking, Harry James Potter," he hissed. "You're thinking that her death is your fault. It's not true. _I'm _not sorry that she's dead. She changed right after Father received news that Voldemort was coming back. She was no longer my mother back then, and she still isn't my mother. My real mother died when my Father started to dedicate himself to Voldemort. So her death is not your fault. Do you understand?"

Harry nodded, mouth open.

Draco exhaled and looked at them.

"I assume Ginny is part of my Mother's group. Or she's part of another. I want to know about that too."

"Okay. There was a group called the Rebels. It was made up of people who still had the darkness in them from the curse the Avengers casted. Their goal was to kidnap the Death Eaters, their families and their sympathizers and kill them all. Ginny is part of that group. It was shut down with all of the group members in Azkaban or under house arrest. They used dark spells to kidnap, torture and kill all the Death Eaters. Recently, Reynolds, the leader of the Rebels was released from Azkaban and…Ginny has been meeting with him. We're trying to find out what the group is up to but there isn't much information offered. Until then, we'll have to lie low and keep an eye on Ginny." Harry said.

Draco nodded and looked at his hands again. There was a frown on his face, and he seemed paler than normal.

"Draco, are you okay?" Harry asked worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just tired. I need time to process all this information, that's all." Draco slowly stood from the couch and he wobbled, looking faint. Harry stood up to help him, only to lunge forward with a cy as Draco fainted.

"Draco!"

**A/N: I know, I know. I will try to post the next chapter within a week! Please leave me reviews again because I SWEAR the unicorn is munching them up every time I read it out loud. THANKS**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Draco woke in darkness once again. He laid on the bed for a few moments, relishing the softness of the bed beneath his bed before sighing and trying to get up.

"Draco." He yelped at the sudden whisper. With a whispered _lumos, _Harry's eyes were highlighted by his wand light. "What are you doing?"

Draco frowned at him. "I am trying to get to the floor. My back hurts."

"Your back… Oh! Here, let me help you." Harry helped Draco down to the floor and watched him settle into his huddling position before letting out a relieved sigh. He decided to copy Draco and placed his cheek on his knee, gazing at Draco with a small smile on his lips.

"What? Do I have something on my face?"

Harry shook his head and stretched out, placing his lips gently over Draco's. They stayed like that for a while, relishing the feel of the other's lips against their own. It was like their first kiss, chaste and sweet.

"Mmm. Did something happen? I remember talking to you three and then…"

"You fainted. Draco. Hermione said it was due to exhaustion and you had overfed yourself on the chocolate cake." He frowned. "You should have known better than to eat too much of the cake."

Draco pouted. "You can't expect me to not be greedy when I've not eaten a single chocolate for the past 7 years."

Harry looked away, guilt rising again. He thought of how Draco must have felt during those 7 years, unable to eat and drink what he wanted to.

"Harry. Look at me," Draco commanded softly. His eyes met Harry's and Draco reached out, clasping the back of Harry's head before pulling the raven into another kiss.

"If your way of making me stop feeling guilty is to kiss me, I won't mind feeling guilty everyday," Harry smiled when Draco pulled away again.

Draco chuckled and simply looked at Harry, still smiling softly. "I missed this."

Harry's eyes lit up. "I missed this too."

He leaned forward and captured Draco's lips once again. He quickly drew back when he felt Draco's flicker against his closed mouth. "Draco, are you…"

"Yes. I want this, Harry. Just….not that far, okay?" Draco's eyes were dark with pain and desire. Harry nodded mutely. He moved towards Draco once more, and tasted his lips. Once again, Draco's tongue flickered against his lips and he opened his mouth as if in a trance. He groaned when the taste of Draco exploded in his mouth. _Take it slow. Slowly. Slowly… _Draco's tongue touched the tip of his shyly and Harry snapped. He meshed their lips together even more and savagely tasted Draco, swallowing every moan and whimper Draco made. It was only when Harry needed air then he surfaced and he panted, waiting for his head to clear. When it did, he panicked.

"Oh Merlin. Draco, I'm so sorry. Are you okay?" He cupped Draco's face in his hands. Draco's eyes were glassy, and he was panting softly. Harry recognized that look. It was Draco's 'I just had a fantastic shag' look. Smugness filled him until he remembered Hermione telling him to go very slow with Draco in case he fainted from emotional and physical overload once more.

Worried, Harry tried to help Draco focus. "Draco, come back to me, love. Come on." Draco blinked twice, and then his eyes cleared. He smiled goofily at Harry. "Hi."

Harry sighed in relief. "Hi to you too. I'm guessing you enjoyed that?" He smirked. Draco nodded enthusiastically and yawned.

"Tired again?" Harry asked sympathetically. Draco nodded, eyes drooping. "Well, too bad for you. Hermione said that you shouldn't get so much sleep. It's bad for you. I don't know why and how, but your meal is more important." Draco perked up at the mention of food.

He obediently stood up and sat on the edge of the bed, legs crossed beneath him. Harry flicked his wand and filled the room with softly glowing lights. He lifted the cover off the tray on the table floating near them.

"Wow. Bread and soup." Draco enthused dryly.

"Don't complain. Your stomach can't handle anything else. Look at what that chocolate cake did to you." Harry tore the thick slice of bread into pieces and dipped one of the pieces into the soup.

"I should know what my stomach can and cannot handle. And besides, the chocolate cake was worth it." He grudgingly accepted the wet bread and chewed on it slowly.

"Not hungry?" Harry asked softly. Draco nodded and offered him a piece of bread. Eyes dark with desire, Harry slowly ate the bread from the blonde's fingers, emerald eyes locked with gray ones all the while. He pretended to not notice how Draco's breath hitched when he proceeded to like all of his fingers clean. He moved on to Draco's mouth and chuckled low in his throat.

"You're not hungry, but I am…" Harry dipped his head and kissed Draco again. Peppering wet kisses all over his face, he pushed Draco back onto the bed and slipped his tongue into the wet craven of Draco's mouth. They groaned at the same time when their tongues met and battled for dominance. Harry won and as a prize, he suckled the soft skin of Draco's neck, making sure to mark him in several places before moving back to Draco's mouth once more.

"Harry James Potter! What did I say about physical contact?" Hermione screeched from the doorway.

The two males jumped apart quickly, faces flushed.

"Erm… to not touch him in any way so as to prevent any unwanted stress to his mind….?" Harry's volume decreased with every word as Hermione glared at him.

"Precisely. And what were you doing when I came in?"

Harry flushed. He mumbled something under his breath and fiddled with the hem of his shirt.

Draco took pity on Harry. "Hermione, don't blame him. I was the one who seduced him, not the other way round." He said boldly.

Hermione stared at him. "Are you sure, Draco? I mean you're not supposed to be able to stand…that is, you can't…I mean…"

Harry chuckled. "It seems that Draco misses me. A lot. And little Harry too." Draco punched him, blushing furiously.

Hermione cleared her throat. "Right, well. Since the both of you are…energized…come down to the kitchen. Molly has prepared lunch for us and we need to discuss about Ginny."

Harry perked up at the mention of Molly's cooking but grew tensed when he heard Ginny. Draco ran his hands soothingly up and down on Harry's back.

"I guess we have to talk about what's going on now." Harry acknowledged, climbing off the bed reluctantly. Draco followed him, slipping his hand into Harry's, flashing the latter a shy smile when he glanced at the blonde in surprise. Hermione stood at the doorway, unable to help herself from softening at the sight. She hoped that with time, Draco would be able to withstand contact with other people and not only Harry. Although it was great that the bond and love between Harry and Draco was strong enough to withstand a 7 years separation, it was kind of frustrating to not be able to stand next to Draco without him tensing up like some surfing board.

They walked down the stairs to the kitchen in comfortable silence. As they neared the kitchen doorway, Draco tensed. Harry squeezed his hand comfortingly, smiling faintly at the blonde. "You don't have to meet Molly if you don't want to, love," Draco blinked at the endearment, and then smiled brightly. "I'll be fine, _darling," _smiling cheekily, he leaned up and pressed a kiss to Harry's red cheeks.

Still red, Harry walked into the kitchen and breathed in deeply. The smell of Molly's cooking filled the air.

"Harry!" Molly Weasley boomed, arms flung open. Laughing, Harry stepped into her arms and stayed in her embrace. Molly was the mother Harry never had growing up. Her hugs were always the best, although most of it ended with him near suffocation. It was worth every desperate gasp for air though. Molly squeezed him once, twice and then let him go, only to grab his cheeks and press kisses there. "You're so thin! When was the last time you ate, huh? I'm going to fatten you up!" Molly declared, running her hands through Harry's unruly mop of hair.

Desperate to escape from Molly's grasps because if he didn't, she was just going to monopolize him and stuff all of the food she cooked down his throat, he said, "Draco's back!"

There was a short silence, and then, "Draco!" from Molly, "Harry!" from Hermione and Draco.

He smiled sheepishly and watched Molly make a beeline for his ex-rival, only to stop at a safe distance from him. Draco was glaring daggers at his love.

"Draco, you've grown so thin!" Molly cooed, arms flung open wide once again. When Draco made no move to step into her embrace like Harry did, she dropped her arms and sniffled loudly. "I won't force you, Draco. Come and sit so I can look at how thin you've grown, okay?" Draco nodded stiffly, and moved to the dining table in the middle of the room and sat down. "I've cooked your favorite! It's beef lasagna tonight, with mashed potatoes, roasted chicken and chicken soup. Oh, and I've baked a fresh loaf of bread. The type you like. Now I know that you can't eat too much because Hermione sent me a 17 paged letter about your eating habits." She slanted an irritated yet exasperated look at Hermione who shrugged and sat down opposite of Draco. "I'll give you a bowl of soup and the bread, and just a small piece of lasagna with mashed potatoes, okay? I've also prepared more chicken soup in the event of you throwing up tonight's dinner. You need to take proper care of yourself. You're too skinny. You're even skinner than Harry and he's _very _skinny. You know what? I think I'll just cook an extra batch of chicken soup and bread for you and you have to make sure to eat it at least 5 times everyday, alright?"

She smiled warmly at the wide-eyed blonde and turned to the stove, pushing up her sleeves in preparation. She let out an _oomph_ when Draco's body smacked into her back. Draco clutched desperately onto Molly, body shuddering, face pressed into her back. "Thank you." He murmured quietly. She turned around and pressed his face into her bossom.

"It's okay, Draco, let it out. Let it all out. You're safe now," she cooed, her warm hands stroking his hair.

After a while, she sniffled and gently pushed him away, dabbing discreetly at her eyes. "You go sit by Harry, dear. I'll prepare the soup and mashed potatoes." He resisted, staring at her with bright eyes. "I want to help you." Molly beamed and without another word, ushered the skinny man to the stove.

Hermione stared at the two cooking people, mouth opened wide. Ron came into the kitchen then, took a double take at the sight of Draco standing next to his mother at ease, sat down next to his fiancé, and closed her mouth shut with one finger. "What did I miss?"

Harry shrugged, still staring at Draco, a mixture of pride and envy in his chest. "Draco hugged Molly."

Ron nodded. "That's probably why 'Mione is sulking here," At that, Hermione sat up straight and glared at him. "I was not sulking, Ronald. I was simply thinking of how Draco has managed to withstand standing so close to your mother and Saint Harry here while he _combusts _at the thought of you and I standing that close to him! I mean, it's not fair! I understand that he thinks of Molly as his foster mother now, but still! I was the one who calmed him down when he panicked back at Azkaban!"

Harry took a moment to wonder at his almost lack of rush of guilt at the mention of Azkaban and Draco in the same sentence. That was a good sign because it meant that he was on the way of forgiving himself for committing the worst mistake in his entire life.

Ron chortled. "Hermione, relax. You don't have to be the best in _everything._ 'Sides, he can't stand standing so close to me too!"

"That's not a valid argument, Ronald! He didn't like you when he started dating Harry, he _still _didn't like you when Harry sent him to Azkaban-although, I don't think he liked any of us at that time-and I'm sure that you're glad to not be in such close proximity with him at any point of the day! Now unlike you, I happen to like Draco, and I consider him as my brother, or something as close as a brother, and it breaks my heart to not have him hugging me without grimacing in discomfort!"

"I broke your ego, more likely," Ron muttered under his breath. Hermione heard it, though and she gave him a look that practically screamed 'You're sleeping on the couch tonight' and flounced to the stove to join Molly and Draco.

Ron groaned and buried his face in his arms. "Can I join you tonight, mate?" Harry laughed, thumping his best friend on his back. "No, sorry. I'm looking forward to cuddling with Draco tonight."

Ron sobered. "Is he still…you know, not used to the bed?" Harry nodded, eyes fixed on Draco's back.

"It'll be hard. But I plan to help him in any way I can. Even if that means sleeping on the floor with him, I'll do it." Ron nodded and a comfortable silence enveloped them. The two of them watched their respective lovers at the stove, enjoying how they seemed to laugh in a carefree manner.

Finally, the oven dinged and Molly stooped down, pulling the door open and waved her wand, levitating a very large dish onto the kitchen table. Ron immediately reached for it. Hermione whacked his arm not too gently, glaring at him. Draco set the huge bowl of mashed potato on the table gently and took a seat next to Harry who smiled at him and hooked his leg behind the blonde's ankle. Next was the roasted chicken, baked bread, chicken soup and the gravy for the mashed potatoes. Ron sat on his hands and salivated, squirming in his seat.

All the while, Hermione and Molly kept a stern eye on Ron. When the last set of cutlery touched the kitchen table, Ron lunged for the mashed potato.

"Ronald! Where are your table manners!" Molly snapped, snatching the bowl back from her youngest son. Ron whined, eyes firm on the bowl.

"May I have the mashed potato, _pretty, pretty, pretty please_?"

Molly nodded and passed it back to him. Ron scooped a huge amount of the potatoes onto his plate under his mother's watchful eye.

Meanwhile, Draco ladled the soup into his bowl and dipped the warm bread into the soup. He moaned at the taste. "Don't forget about the rest of the dishes, Draco." Molly called, already setting a small piece of lasagna onto a plate for him. Draco nodded, eyes still closed in bliss.

Soon, the whole table fell into silence as everybody dug in. When the initial pangs of hunger wore off, they started to talk.

"What about the rest of the family, Mrs. Weasley?" Draco asked politely.

"Call me Molly, Draco. They're at home. Don't worry about them. I prepared their dinner before coming over. They send their regards, by the way."

He nodded. He knew that the reason why the rest of the Weasley clan wasn't with them was because of his lack of tolerance for human contact. He was grateful to them for being so considerate and once again, he wondered how he had been adopted into such a wonderful family. It was through Harry, he knew. When they first dated, Draco had expected the Weasleys to be hostile towards him and he didn't blame them, because after all, he _had _thrown insults at the youngest Weasley like there was no tomorrow. And when he had first met the whole Weasley clan, they _were _wary, and a little hostile. It soon wore off, though, when they saw how much Draco was in love with Harry. He was still amazed at how loving and how forgiving the whole family was. He didn't deserve any of their kindness, nor did he deserve Harry. Harry was everything he wanted when he was growing up. He had envisioned a knight in shining armor coming to rescue him whenever his Father had become more intolerant of his so called mistakes and beat him nightly. A knight in shining armor who would fly to his window and invite him to go anywhere he wanted to go. A knight in shining armor who would fight for Draco when his Father caught the former sneaking out of the Manor and win the fight, just for Draco.

And Harry had done all those things. Well, not to a tee, but still. He had rescued Draco from spiraling into depression and rescued him from his Father's clutches. He _had _sneaked Draco out of the Manor during the summer before their sixth year. It was exhilarating and when they had reached the Burrow, even Molly's stern scolding failed to bring them down from their high.

Of course, the tracking charms his Father had placed on him took effect almost immediately and within a few minutes of their arrival, Lucius Malfoy had appeared to collect his wayward son.

The Weasleys had hidden Harry and Draco in Fred and George's room when the wards were set off and confronted the head of the Malfoy family. Draco's Mother was notoriously absent from the confrontation. The two lovers huddled with each other under Fred's bed (after Draco had shot multiple cleaning charms into the darkness) and heard nothing from downstairs, until Lucius Malfoy stormed into the house.

The tracking charm placed on Draco pointed him towards the twin's room, and when he attempted to enter, he was bombarded by a million pranks. Pain splattered all over him, dragon droppings were dropped onto his hair and expensive robes, a Bogey hex (courtesy of Ginny Weasley) was shot right at him, fireworks exploded right before his eyes, water bombs were thrown at his feet and doxies flew at him, tearing into his robes and ripping chunks of hair from his scalp. Needless to say, Lucius Malfoy never did bother to return for his son for the rest of the summer. In fact, during the Welcoming Feast of their sixth year, Lucius had publicly disowned Draco.

Silence reigned after the howler shredded itself into pieces and Draco calmly stood up and walked to the Gryffindor table, where a space was automatically (albeit slowly) created for him to sit beside Harry. Then chaos began.

The Slytherins went crazy; half of them proceeded to follow Draco to the Gryffindor table in a show of support, while the other half lunged for the once Prince of Slytherin and for the people who dared to leave the table. Hexes were thrown across the room, the Hufflepuffs screamed and wrung their hands, the Gryffindors rose mightily to defend their newest members. The chaos stopped when Dumbledore casted a Sonorous on himself and yelled, "Shut up!"

Everybody had stared at the Headmaster in shock. Never before had they heard him as much curse. The teaching staff then handled everything from there. The students who wanted to join Draco were quickly re-sorted into another House. Then there was the matter of finding an appropriate place for the re-sorted students to stay during the course of their studies. The boy's dormitories were too small for Draco to stay with them so Harry and Draco had stayed together in the Room of Requirement, unknown to their Head of House, including Severus Snape because he _was _Draco's godfather after all and he still didn't like Harry one bit.

It was only after Lucius' death that it was discovered that Draco was never officially disowned. Apparently the dead Malfoy still wanted the family line to continue, even if it meant having an unruly son be the next head of the house.

However, it was the Weasleys who had offered their house for him to stay at during the summers. Plus, when Harry really needed to stay at the stupid Muggles' house in order for the blood ward to keep effect, Draco found pleasure in scarring the stupid Muggles' for life by having loud sex with Harry. He only stopped when he found out that the youngest Muggle in the house got hard whenever they had sex. Now the fat Muggle getting off on their sex noise was simply disgusting and Draco often found time to send stinging hexes towards the fat boy.

The rest of the summers were blissfully spent at the Weasleys'. He still couldn't believe how accepting they were. Well, except for the female Weasley. She still held a grudge against Draco for stealing her 'boyfriend' and turning him gay.

"What are you thinking of, love?" Harry squeezed his thigh gently, bringing him out of his thoughts. Draco smiled, shaking his head.

"Stuff." At Harry's look, he continued, "About how Ginny thinks that I turned you gay."

He immediately wished he hadn't brought up Ginny. Everybody paused in their eating and stared at him.

"I… did I say something wrong?"

"No, no you didn't, Draco. We just remembered about Ginny. We sent Ron to find out what is happening now just now and I guess everybody forgot about it until you reminded us." Hermione said briskly.

"Any talk of Ginny can be made after dinner," Molly said sternly. Every body dug into their food once again but this time it was in silence.

**A/N: I'm so sorry, guys. I know I missed my deadline. I'm good that way LOL. Please drop reviews! I thrive on them. And thank you for putting my story under FAV all you lovely people! **


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

After dinner, everybody proceeded to the living room, a bowl of mango pudding in their hands. Draco sent longing looks towards the mango pudding. Harry had sternly told him to not even _think _about going near the puddings Molly made. He understood that the desert would do his stomach more harm than good but it had been seven long years since he had eaten a pudding, much less mango. It wasn't his favorite flavor but still…

He started when Harry thrust a spoon towards his lips. "Here, just one bite." Draco beamed at Harry and leaned forward eagerly, capturing the spoon in between his lips before slurping the tangy mango pudding off the spoon. He moaned at the taste and took his time to swallow the small bite down, licking his lips with satisfaction once the pudding was gone.

He looked at Harry and gulped. The Man-who-lived was staring at Draco's slightly reddened lips, eyes dark with hunger. Draco's stomach clenched pleasantly at the sight. Harry leaned forward, and Draco's eyes fluttered close, waiting to feel Harry's lips on his.

"Ahem."

The two men jumped apart, flushed. Draco whined quietly in his throat at the loss of Harry's lips on his but quickly shut up when Harry flashed a smoldering look at him; a look that held a thousand promises.

"Now that you two are done with your _flirting_," Hermione pointed a stern look at the two, "let's move on to more serious matters."

Everybody sobered at that. "I'm not sure if you know who the Rebels are, Draco. Or how they formed." Draco shook his head at that.

Hermione drew in a deep breath. "Right. So when the Avengers cast the curse that made everybody turn 'dark', we found out that there was no counter curse to it. We had to invent one, but the counter curse wasn't effective. A small number of people were left with the curse intact within them and they gathered to form the Rebels. Their aim was to finish off all the ex Death-Eaters and they nearly reached their goal.

Ginny… She was one of their many strategists. She planned and pulled off the killings of over twenty ex Death-Eaters. One of which… is your father."

Draco paled. "My father is dead?" Hermione nodded, eyes sympathetic.

"Good." Draco said fiercely. "I'm glad he's dead. He hasn't been my father since Voldemort came back." Harry placed his hand on Draco's arm in comfort.

"But my father was imprisoned in Azkaban at the same time as I was. If she was able to kill my father…she could have easily killed me. So why didn't she?"

Hermione sighed. "She nearly got you too, Draco. When she killed your father, we caught wind of what she was planning to do. We nearly didn't make it in time too. But all that matters is that you're safe now. As for Ginny… She has been meeting the leader of the Rebels secretly outside of her house arrest."

Ron took over. "I found out that the original members of the Rebels have been meeting secretly ever since Ginny was put on house arrest. And ever since Reynolds, the leader of the Rebels was released, they have been slowly recruiting members. The Ministry doesn't seem to want to acknowledge that they're gathering too. Shacklebolt is trying to gather up as many Aurors as he can without the Ministry finding out to catch the Rebels once again."

"Why sneak around behind the Ministry's back?" Draco interrupted.

Ron sighed gustily. "Ministry still hasn't changed since the war. The Wizengamot is still made up of assholes who refuse to give up their power. So there. They refuse to acknowledge that the Avengers might be coming back."

"Who's the Minister?"

"Scrimounger."

"_Still?" _

"Yeah. _But _it might change this coming election. Hermione's the campaign manager of Neville so there is a very huge chance that he might just become our next Minister."

Ron beamed at Hermione and she blushed before punching him lightly in his arm.

"Wait. _Longbottom _is running to be Minister?"

"Draco, behave." Harry admonished, his harsh words softened by his hands rubbing gently on the other's back.

Draco scowled. "With that kind of an idiot running for Minister, of course he would need a hell of a campaign manager."

Harry paused as he tried to decide if he should scold Draco once more for belittling the next Minister or if he should 'reward' him for praising his childhood friend.

Ron took his decision out of his hands by laughing uproariously. "Nice way of complimenting Hermione, Malfoy!"

Draco paused. "Erm, thanks?"

"Moving on," Hermione cleared her throat. "We have to keep an eye on Ginny without the rest of the Weasley clan finding out."

"The rest of the Weasley clan?" Draco interrupted again.

"Yeah." This time, it was Harry who answered. "Well, just Molly and George. They…still find it hard to believe that Ginny was and is part of the Rebels, or that it was a curse that turned the rest of the world into Death-Eater killing machines."

_Because they can't afford to lose anyone else in the family. _Draco knew that that was the unspoken truth.

"The Rebels must be planning something big. Something worse than the curse that made them this. But before we concentrate on getting to the Rebels, we have to find out why Draco is reacting such to Harry." Hermione said.

She and Ron immediately turned to the two in question. Harry stared at them, his eyes opened wide.

"What do you mean? Draco's reacting fine to me." And as if to prove his point, he ran a hand down Draco's back, causing Draco to shiver and lean into his touch a little more.

"_That's _what I'm talking about! That's not fine and neither is it normal! Don't you see?! Draco has been separated from you for _seven years. _Seven years. Not one, not two and most definitely not three. It's seven years. Logically, he's supposed to not be able to withstand any touch, because he has been in isolation for seven years. But ever since he was released, he has been showing positive signs to touch. Especially to touch from you, Harry."

"But…isn't that good?" Harry ran his hand down Draco's shoulder this time, to provide comfort and assurance to Draco.

"I see where Hermione is trying to drive at, Harry. Seven years in isolation should have done something negative to his tolerance for touch. Or any form of contact with anybody. But when you touch him…it's like he's lit on fire or something. He just brightens up and seems better somehow." Ron shrugged.

"Harry, when did you first touch Draco after he came back?"

"Er…yesterday, I think. When he confronted me about me over-protecting him."

"And he was more receptive to your touch from then on?"

"Yeah." Harry shot Draco a heated glance.

"Hmm." Hermione frowned in thought.

"So… I have a healing touch?" Harry half joked.

"Maybe…" Hermione hummed, considering that aspect. She twirled her wand before flicking it once, configuring a cushion into a slim dagger.

"Ron, cut yourself with this dagger." She commanded, handing it to the Weasley man.

"Cut…what? Why would I cut…" His voice trailed off once he caught a glimpse of the look on Hermione's face.

"Fine, fine. I'll cut." He pressed the tip of the dagger onto the pad of his thumb and winced when a droplet of blood welled up.

"Deeper."

He gaped at his girlfriend and then obeyed, bringing the knife downwards in a jerky move. This time, he groaned in pain.

"Hermione, what are you trying to do?" Harry asked.

"I'm trying to see if you do have a healing touch. Harry, touch Ron's wound."

Harry gaped at her. "No way am I touching that bloody wound!"

"Do it!" She snapped and Harry's mouth clicked shut abruptly. Throwing a worried look at Draco, he moved to Ron's side and slowly reached for his hand. Grimacing, he prodded gingerly at the gaping cut and grinned at the hiss Ron produced.

"Harry." Hermione aimed an irate glare at him.

Gulping, Harry turned back to Ron and his bloody thumb and closed his fist around it. He held the bloody thumb and stared at Hermione. She nodded and he took it as consent to let go of Ron's thumb. He did so with gratitude and grinned at Hermione when she cleaned his bloody hand with a flick of her wand.

Ron yelped as Hermione cleaned his thumb of blood with another flick of her wand. "That stings!"

"Of course it did. The wound didn't heal." Hermione sniffed, swishing her wand, healing the cut.

Harry gaped again. "What-but…"

Hermione heaved a sigh. "Okay. Here's what we're going to do. This is going to be hard, for both of you. But it's necessary. The two of you can't touch each other for the next three days. No form of contact whatsoever. If you want to talk to each other, you can do so using either Ron or me as a messenger."

"How's that supposed to help us?" Harry exploded, incredulous.

"We don't know what's happening to you or Draco right now, Harry! Yes, Draco's displaying positive signs towards touch but we don't know if that's the result of a curse that was cast on him without our knowledge. Until we know exactly why Draco responds so well to your touch, you two have to be apart. I know it'll be very hard, but it's going to help the two of you in the long run."

Harry stared at Hermione in a mix of despair and anger. "I just got him back, Hermione…" His voice broke and he closed his mouth, unable to continue.

Draco rose hurriedly and ran his hand soothingly up and down Harry's back. "It's only for three days, Harry. We can do this. I know we can."

Harry turned around, eyes wide in betrayal. "You support us being apart?"

"Harry. I'd rather have the knowledge that my feelings are being manipulated and suffer for that knowledge than to live in ignorance and be used to harm you in any way. If a curse is making me more receptive to everyone's touches when it's not supposed to, then… I just… I don't want to be used to hurt you. In any way. So please, Harry. Do this. Do this for us." Draco pleaded.

Harry stared at Draco and cupped his cheek with his hand. He stroked Draco's cheek and sighed. "Okay. We'll do it."

HPDM

There was a knock on Draco's bedroom door. His heart leapt into his throat even as his head told him that it wasn't Harry because there was no way he could slip past Hermione's eagle eye.

Still, he rushed to the door and yanked it open. He slumped in disappointment as his eyes landed on Hermione.

She smiled at him in sympathy. "It's time for dinner, Draco." He nodded and followed her down to the kitchen, where only the two of them would eat. Harry and Ron would either eat after them or they had already eaten and was hiding in some corner in the house.

Two more days to go.

HPDM

_One more day to go, one more day to go, one more day to go, one more day to go, _Draco chanted to himself, hugging his knees tighter to his chest. He felt as if he was back in Azkaban; the loneliness and need for touch-_Harry's touch_-settling into every fiber of his body.

_Just one more day to go, _he promised himself. But Merlin, he wanted to touch Harry so bad. He wanted to just be in Harry's presence and curl into his arms. Tears slid down his cheeks as he shivered as if he was cold.

HPDM

"…think, Harry? Harry?"

Harry blinked and stared at Ron. "Huh?"

Ron sighed gustily and shook his head. "I said that you haven't been focusing much..."

Harry tuned him out again. He was feeling the itch to set his eyes on Draco. He was sure that if he was in the same room as Draco, he wouldn't feel so tired anymore. Not to mention that resisting the urge to just run up the stairs and lock Draco and himself in the room for the next month was draining a large portion of his energy.

He wanted-no, _needed_ to see Draco. The itch had turned into a full-blown urge that refused to be ignored. It consumed his whole being. He needed to touch Draco and assure himself that he was there, that he wouldn't disappear.

Unknowingly, he staggered to his feet and stumbled to the stairway, ignoring Ron's chattering in the background.

"Harry, where are you going? You can't go and see Draco. You know-"

But whatever Ron was saying was cut off because everything in Harry's body was thrumming and focused on one thing: Draco. The object of his focus had just stumbled down the stairs and was leaning against the wall, panting.

All the nerve endings in Harry's body leapt to life and _yearned _to touch Draco, to stroke his hand, to touch his lips and just kiss him and absorb him into his body.

"Draco." He breathed. The love of his life raised his head and smiled shakily before collapsing into a heap.

Even as Harry reached out to Draco, his body gave up on him too. He kept his eyes on Draco, though, trying to hang on to consciousness with his own will.

"What happened?" Hermione asked, panic lacing her voice.

"I don't know! They just collapsed like that."

Harry reached out to Draco, his hand trembling.

"Quick, Ron. Help me levitate both of them to Harry's bedroom. Don't let them touch each other though."

Harry would've yelled if he could. He could only afford a soft whimper in protest to the separation. Darkness was creeping in slowly and he wanted nothing but Draco in his arms before he let go of his conscious.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, he was finally laid on his bed.

"Okay, levitate Draco into Harry's arms. Slowly."

The moment Draco's finger brushed his own, Harry rolled and grabbed Draco, wrapping himself around him so he formed a protective cocoon around his beloved. He finally let the darkness take him, but not before hearing Hermione murmur a shocked "Merlin".

**A/N: Is that the longest chapter I've written for this story? I'm so sorry for the super long update! I wanted to make this story a threeshot at most but it obviously didn't work out hahaa. But it's okay. Take this chapter as a Christmas present! Remember to review! Thank you and Merry Christmas! **


	5. Author's Note - IMPT

**A/N: Cry Me a River is officially on hiatus, but don't fret! I have written a spin-off, and it's called Gauges on the Wall. Please check that out, and leave reviews! Thank you **


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